De Blasio’s UPKNYC Advocacy Group Launching New Round of Robocalls

It’s not clear what will happen to UPKNYC, the Bill de Blasio-backed nonprofit that helped push his pre-K agenda in Albany, but the group is doing at least one more round of robocalls later this evening, a source close to the nonprofit told the Observer.

The calls are going out to “thousands of voters in each district” of every state senator in New York City, regardless of political affiliation, expressing thanks for including most of Mr. de Blasio’s pre-K funding in the recently-passed state budget, the source said.

“Just this week, your state senator, Diane Savino, supported a budget that will make pre-K universal in New York City and will expand after-school programs,” says the call that will be placed to Staten Island residents in State Senator Diane Savino’s district. “This investment will change the lives of tens of thousands of children in our city. Mayor de Blasio, working with Gov. Cuomo and your legislators, made a two-decade-old pre-K pledge a reality starting this September.”

The group previously placed more than 200,000 robocalls thanking city members of the state assembly.

As for the future of the nonprofit in the aftermath of Mr. de Blasio’s budget win, the source only said that “we will announce our next steps soon.”

Josh Gold, who served as campaign manager for the UPKNYC effort, has already returned to his old job with the Hotel Trades Council.